Sheffield Steelers: Aaron Fox says it is up to Manchester Storm to chase the game ahead of Challenge Cup clash

Sheffield won the home quarter-final 5-2 and hope to push on in Altrincham's second leg and into the semi-finals.

But Storm certainly know how to beat Sheffield at home - one of their three wins over Steelers this season was a 6-2 victory in October.

Visiting coach Aaron Fox knows the onus will be on Ryan Finnerty's men to take the game (7.30pm) to them – but that does not mean they will sit back and defend.

"We are going there to win that hockey game" he said.

"But I do think that we have to realise that they have to chase the game, we don't.

"I think the first ten minutes of that hockey game is going to be critical for us to make sure we are extremely sound.

“We can’t give them anything, we need to make them realise that it's going to be a long night of them having to come through guys and play a 200-foot game if they want to get into our end.

"So, we will still be an aggressive team that plays fast and that pushes the pace but we will just have to be a little more aware defensively."

Steelers will have to be at their best at both ends of the ice - something Marek Troncinský has demonstrated in abundance since arriving in October.

Troncinský has pretty much emulated fellow defenceman Ben O'Connor's points ratio since being signed as injury cover for Aaron Johnson and Jonas Liwing.

In 2017-18 Troncinský had the most assists and points by any d-man in the Czech Republic's elite division and once he bedded in, has been a prolific provider for Sheffield.

Early last month, he extended his contract, after a get-out clause for him to join other leagues in Europe expired.

In the last three games, he has scored three goals and three assists - two of the latter coming against Manchester.

Meanwhile, the position of top goalscorer at Steelers is becoming an interesting sideshow - Marco Vallerand and Robert Dowd are tied together on 16 strikes.

Dowd has played two more games.